Why do dyslexics only know how to spell certain things?

Question

I know a guy who spells a word, as big as the word "missionaries" correctly, but he spells "ugly" like this, "ulgy" & the conjunction "or" as "are"?

I'm not making fun of him. I'm just curious. It seems like he just only knows how to spell what he wants to spell.

Answer 1

On one hand, the guy may be depending on visual memory skills using compensatory strategies to overcome the dyslexia. On the other hand, the guy could have an auditory perception deficit in addition to dyslexia, meaning that he wouldn't hear sounds as they are spelled phonetically. For example, "or" sounds similar to "are" and he may better remember (visual memory skills) the spelling for "are" but may not remember "or". On the other hand, he may not perceive "or" as "or" when he hears the word. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

My sister is dyslexic and from what she says....... Sometimes the words look backwards or distorted ( mixed all together).
Her first name is Joi and she spelled it.. ioJ.. for the longest time.
When she writes a letter, sometimes it is hard to read because of the backwards or distorted spelling.

She has come along way since she was young but she still to this day has problems with some words.
Other then that she is an intelligent woman.

Answer 3

When someone has dyslexia, their brain sees letters in a different way. Usually people with dyslexia have problems with only small words (like reading "was" when the word is "saw"). It's not so much that he wants to spell certain words right, it's just that his brain is able to process some word combinations easier than others.

Answer 4

Some of it is learned behavior.

Answer 5

THE LETTERS APPEAR BACKWARD & DISTORTED